Hi Kids!

I'm moving My Musings to its own area.  You'll see a new link up top for it in a few days. 

Faith or just plain freaky.  J. Gordon Melton of the University of California-Santa Barbara has released his new edition of the Encyclopedia Of American Religions.  It lists 2,630 denominations.  Some are more popular than others of course.  Pulling up the rear is the (John F) Kennedy Worshipers, the Nudist Christian Church of the Blessed Virgin Jesus, the Church of God Anonymous, the Church of the New Song (these guys do steak with communion) and 22 that believe in UFO's.

Lookout!  He's got a cell!   I can't tell you the never a times I've been nearly hit, broad-sided or just plain ran over by an irresponsible driver more intent on flapping his jaws than driving.  Let their be no doubt in your mind, dearest brethren, I have definite and defined opinions on cell phone use in an automobile.

That being said, I found that as bad a problem as it is, it may not be the worst!  That alone boggles my gray matter.  The Virginia State Troopers recently conducted a study on 2700+ crashes that occurred between June and November 2002.  They report that 98% of crashes are caused by a single distracted driver.  They cite the number one reason for a crunch-up as rubbernecking other accidents, traffic or roadside events.  

Not a surprise really.  In Holmes County, Miss., in October, Mr. Chocwe Lumumba, Esq., earned an acquittal for his client, former policeman Eddie Myers, having convinced the jury that it was self-defense when Myers killed his sister-in-law (who was the assistant police chief). Myers told the jury that, yes, he grabbed two .40-caliber handguns and fired 36 shots, hitting the woman 14 times, and yes, the victim's own handgun was found by emergency workers still strapped inside its holster, but it was still self-defense. [Clarion-Ledger, 10-23-02]

Misplaced priorities.  

In Italy, she is officially a cause for divorce.

The country's highest appeals court on Thursday upheld a ruling that granted a woman from Vasto in southern Italy divorce on the grounds of "excessive and inappropriate interference of the husband's parents in the private life of the couple."

"My husband was his mother's slave. He would hang on her every word while she criticized everything about me, my make-up, my diet, the way I was bringing up my daughter," the woman told the court.

The woman was awarded custody of her daughter and a generous alimony to compensate her for not being allowed to work after she was married.

The ex-husband has returned to live with his mother.

Anxious to recover her phone, the owner in the coastal town of Mombasa offered 1,000 shillings ($13.09) to anyone who would recover it, the Daily Nation said.

Well over half the Kenyan population of 30 million people lives on less than $1 a day.

The first to try -- a 30-year-old radio technician -- failed to resurface after disappearing down a ladder into the latrine.

His friend went after him but slipped and fell. The third casualty, trying to rescue the others, was hauled out of the pit by neighbors after he inhaled the fumes and lost consciousness.

The man was rushed to hospital but died on the way.

"The fumes inside must be extremely poisonous considering the short time it was taking to disable the retrievers," acting Mombasa police chief Peter Njenga was reported as saying.

You don't have to take my word for it.  Here is an article Kim Komando wrote about her test drive with a MAC.  She made one excellent point in her review.  Regardless of the system, you still have to learn how to use it.  Hello? 

The War continues.  I'm referring to the 3D graphics video card war between Nvidia and ATI.  At the end of the month ATI will release the Radeon 9800 Pro, the successor to the powerful 9700 of last year.  Nvidia produces the popular GeForce FX 5800 Ultra.  ATI's new offering will be released the latter part of March for about $400.  It comes with 128MB of DDR memory and should give the 5800 a run for its money.  It is worth it?  Click here to find out.  

Centrino, Pentium M, whatever!  The major headache most people run into laptops is lack of battery life.  When I was a consultant for FedEx I was lucky to get two hours out of my laptop without looking for an outlet.  Well, slowly but surely someone in the computer industry has made steps to correct this situation.  Finally!  

Now to wade through some corporate double speak.  The processor itself is called Pentium M.  When used in the wireless laptop configuration with the 855 chipset, it is called Intel Centrino Mobile Technology.  Give me strength.

Intel has introduced the Pentium M.  They pull off a good one here.  For you techies the chip is a 0.13 micron design with 77 million transistors packed into it.  This chip will predict what you are going to do next and be ready for it, like Radar from M*A*S*H.  This chip shuts down when not in use to save power.  CNET has tested these chips in various laptops and found that the laptops last much longer on their battery.  The IBM Thinkpad they tested lasted 7 hours.  The Pentium M is a significant step forward.

Helping out the little guys.  I subscribe to several tech emails and one of them brought up something of note I'd like to pass on.  I'm talking about the little guys that are writing software.  You know the freeware and shareware that they want you to pay $20 to register.  More often than not these are well written pieces of software that handle a specific function very well.  I have several copies of this type of software for two reasons, 1) there are cheap and 2) they are just as good as the big boys.

Last year I was needing a fax program for my PC because I was faxing back and forth with potential employers.  There was no way the budget would absorb the cost of a fax machine.  I didn't want one anyway.  I just don't use it that much.  Started checking out the big boys to find some fax software and found out at the time I was going to pay $70 as a minimum.  The one I wanted was over $100.  I was not a happy camper.

Until I came across MightyFAX by RKS Software.  This is a stable, reliable piece of software that cost $19.95.  You can't beat that with a stick.  It did everything that I was looking for.  To my delight the value didn't stop there.  With the big boys you pay big bucks to get the next upgrade.  Frequently these smaller companies do not charge for minor updates or upgrades.  I have a piece of shareware or two that I was entitled to updates for two years after purchase.

So the next time you are in the market for some software, don't count out the little guys.  These types of software generally have at minimum a 30-day trail period to see if you like it or not.  You should consider this, especially if you like getting a good bang for your buck.

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. 

For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we may boldly say:

        "The LORD is my helper;
        I will not fear.
        What can man do to me?"

- Hebrews 13:5-6

On this date was born Confederate General and future Governor of Florida, Edward Aylesworth Perry in Richmond, Massachusetts.  President Andrew Jackson was also born on March 15 in Garden of the Waxhaws, South Carolina.  This son of Irish immigrants is most associated with westward expansion of the United States.   

On this day the in 1994 Adobe Systems announced it would buy Aldus Corporation, publisher of the Pagemaker software that created the desktop publishing industry.  In 1939, the Germans took Czechoslovakia. 

A herd or flock or huh?  You probably already knew that a group of Antelopes were called a herd.  Here are a few you didn't know:

What can I say, I love Calvin and Hobbes.  You can see read them at ucomics.com.

Billy Graham flew into a Florida town one evening on a private jet to preach at a crusade.  The city leaders decided to roll out the red carpet for the internationally known evangelist.  Waiting for Billy when he got off the jet was a brand new limousine complete with chauffer holding the door open for him.  After all of the obligatory welcomes and hellos had been said, Billy moved to the limo to get in for his ride to the hotel.

Just as he was about to get into the limo, he stopped.  He turned to the driver holding his door and spoke.  "You know, over the years I have ridden in many wonderful vehicles, just once I would like to drive one.  Would you mind?"  The driver, taken aback by the question, not sure how to say no to a request direct from "Billy Graham" said, "Well, OK."  Billy had the driver get in the back, he got behind the wheel and off they went.

What the evangelist did not know and the driver had no thought to tell him is that this limo had a turbo charged V-12 engine.  On the first straight away through town, Billy decided to give the car a little gas.  Before he realized what was happening, the limo was tearing through town at 95 MPH.  If that wasn't bad enough, soon there were blue lights flashing behind the limo.  He pulls over.

The officer gets out of his car.  He immediately notices that all of the windows are blacked out.  Upon approaching the driver door he taps on the window.  The window begins to lower.  He is startled and even jumped a little when he saw Billy Graham looking up at him.  He glances quickly at the back of the limo and back to Billy.  He puts up his hands and says, "I'm sorry, but in this situation I'm not sure what to do.  Please wait here."  

The officer returns to his car and calls in.  "I have a situation here and need to speak with the chief NOW!"  The chief is patched through to the somewhat shaken patrolman.  He explains, "I have pulled over a Limo doing 95 in a 35 zone but there is someone VERY important in the car.  What do I do?"

The chief asks, "Who is it?  The Mayor?"

"No higher than that."

"Governor Jeb Bush?"

"No, way higher than that."

"You pulled over the President, George W himself?"

"No higher than that."

The chief in exasperation as well as a little confusion finally asks, "Well, who is it?"

"I think its the Lord Jesus Christ himself!"

"What makes you think that!?"